Roosevelt, Jackson, Guess come up clutch in Cleveland
CLEVELAND — After a perfect regular season and sectional title, the Roosevelt boys swim team had the chance to test itself against the best Northeast Ohio has to offer Friday afternoon at Cleveland State’s Busbey Natatorium.
The Rough Riders established themselves securely among the best, placing sixth in the Northeast District team standings with 114 points, the highest finish of any Division II boys or girls program in the Akron, Canton and Kent area.
“It’s really amazing,” Roosevelt junior A.J. Springer said. “It’s a real big team process. Everyone does their part perfectly and everyone does so well. We all practice so hard, and it really pays off.”
The Rough Riders set a tone with a runner-up finish in the 200 medley relay (1:39.31), securing one of two automatic state berths out of Cleveland.
“That was just so exciting,” senior Drew Vecchio said. “We had A.J.’s perfect backstroke start, so that got us hyped, and then I went in with the breaststroke and I was really just trying to go [get] a personal best for the relay, and then Kadin [Pyka] with his butterfly, just phenomenal as always, and then Jack [Puhalla] just brought it home.”
The Rough Riders are also projected to send a slew of at-large qualifiers to state, including their 200 free relay, which was seventh (1:30.36).
Making his district debut, Pyka, a freshman, is set to advance to state in all four events in which he competed, as he was seventh in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.02) and ninth in the 100 free (49.20) along with the aforementioned relays.
“It’s definitely a hard event,” Pyka said of the 100 free. “You have to take it out fast enough, then be able to come back in it, because if you don’t take it out fast enough you never know what you’re going to get.”
Puhalla, a junior, is projected to qualify in the 50 free with a ninth-place finish (22.38).
“The 50 free is a perfect or not-perfect event,” Puhalla said. “You really have to swim it your best or your worst. There’s no in-between.”
All of the at-large bids will be made official over the weekend.
Hoban’s Rylee Jackson shines with multiple district titles
For the second straight season, Rylee Jackson qualified for state in two events. This time, the Hoban star did so with two district titles.
“Honestly, I’m speechless,” the Knights sophomore said. “Like, I have no words for it.”
Her day began with a remarkable surge off her flip turn to take control of the 50 free, as she touched the wall in 23.56 seconds to win an event in which she placed third a year ago.
“It’s quite incredible the training I’ve gone through and just the fighting and the training and just everything,” Jackson said. “Going from third to first is just, it’s wonderful. I am honestly speechless from it.”
Jackson’s title in the 100 free (51.73) was arguably even more impressive, as she topped two — Hawken’s Nina Newton and Gilmour Academy’s Laina Collis — of the three swimmers who finished ahead of her at last year’s district meet with the third — Marlington’s Claire Cox — since graduating.
“She came home like a freight train,” Hoban coach Nick Meyer said. “She loves that last lap. She can come off the wall better than pretty much anybody, so if she’s close at the end, she’s going to fight and she’s going to win.”
After the meet, Meyer was named the district coach of the year on the girls side.
Marlington’s Leah Guess delivers silver and bronze
Like Jackson, Marlington senior Leah Guess didn’t have to spend anytime wondering whether she made state, securing automatic bids in the 100 butterfly (second, 57.43) and the 100 back (third, 56.96).
In the fly, Guess finished behind only Hathaway Brown’s Lilly Mehok, a Northwestern University commit who won last year’s state title.
“The competition is really good,” Guess said. “I love swimming against all these really, really fast people. It gives me a great opportunity to race against the fastest people and try to better my time.”
That’s something Guess, an Ohio University commit herself, is looking forward to next week as well as she rounds out her career close to home at the C.T. Branin Natatorium, where she finished fourth in the state in the 100 back and fly a year ago.
“I’m looking forward to just swimming fast next week, swimming against all these really good people,” Guess said. “People from different districts, too, and then hopefully making podium there, and state is just the best meet. It’s so fun.”
Aurora’s Cameron Good delivers standout performance
Aurora junior Cameron Good is projected to head to Canton in multiple events, and for the second straight year.
Good delivered an impressive performance Friday, finishing 10th in the 100 backstroke (54.92) and 12th in the 100 freestyle (49.30), and is set to earn an at-large state berth in both events.
For the second straight week, the Greenmen finished with a bang, as Good, first-year swimmer Jaxson Rhea, senior Xander Roy and freshman Elijah Shim were seventh (3:21.53) in the 400 free relay.
That should be good enough for Canton as well.
“They’ve dropped substantial amounts of time, broken some records, had substantial amounts of personal bests,” Aurora coach Anthony Telerico said. “Even some of the swims today where we didn’t have personal bests, they were almost equal to or within tenths of seconds of what their sectional times were that they all dropped in, so across the board, [I’m] very, very happy.”